It is the age of Social Media and Social Networks via a whole host of devices from computers to smart phones with countless networks and applications now available and new ones springing up all the time.
Sharing data, contacts and personal information is commonplace as social interaction takes place, very often between individuals who have never met, and maybe never will. And much of the information is not only available to so-called ‘friends’, but to almost everyone.
Try Googling yourself, you might be amazed at what information is out there for everyone to see. Spur of the moment remarks you later regretted, but can’t of course erase. Personal information. Address, telephone number etc.
On this subject, a very interesting article from the UK editor of Wired entitled: Six Reasons Why I’m Not On Facebook.
If you don’t want it to come back and haunt you in later life, don’t post it. And double-check before posting.
A 15-year-old girl in the UK was preparing for her 15th birthday, to which she was allowed to invite 15 friends. She decided to post the ‘event’ on Facebook, for her friends of course.
However, she inadvertently made it a ‘public’ event and had 21,000 rsvp’s. Her parents are now worried, as are the police, as to how many people will actually turn up at their small apartment on the due date.